New science fiction collection: Bug-Eyed Monsters and the Women Who Love Them

I have another new release to announce and once again it’s a collection of short science fiction stories written during the July Short Story Challenge, where I wrote a short story per day in July 2015.

One thing I noticed while writing so many stories in such a short period of time was that my critical side completely shut down after a while and my creative side came out to play. As a result, I found myself writing a lot of unusual, parodistic or just plain weird stories.

Another thing I noticed is that certain themes emerged during the challenge. One theme was stories of lost worlds littered with abandoned technology that has long since become magic and legend (collected in Children of the Stone Gods). Another theme was really bizarre stories about aliens who look like anthropomorphic cartoon animals (collected in Operation Rubber Ducky). A third theme were stories about men, women and alien monsters, which usually turned out to be parodies of Golden Age science fiction with its retrograde gender dynamics.

These are the stories you can find in Bug-Eyed Monsters and the Women Who Love Them. In these pages, you’ll meet some prime bug-eyed monsters like the fearsome Eee’chuk-chi’up or the unseen terror of the Amazon (that’s the river, not the online vendor – and yes, I’ve had to clarify this). You’ll experience the hidden horros that lie beneath the peaceful facade of suburban America terrifying and see it invaded by aliens who want only one thing. You’ll meet the dashing Captain Crash Martigan of the rocket scout squad of New Pluto City as well as Captain Robert R. Garrett of the convict ship Perpetual Penitence, who really doesn’t like to be interrupted. And of course, you’ll everything about regulation No. 1.645 of the United Alliance of Planets handbook of space travel and colonisation (not to be confused with regulation No. 1.654, which is about personal waste disposal).

Word of warning: Men – at least human men – don’t get off very well in these stories, whereas women of any species and aliens – whether bug-eyed monsters or not – do. Plus, most of these stories contain sex, not very explicit, but at least one partner is definitely not human.

Bug-Eyed Monsters and the Women Who Love ThemSix short science fiction stories that subvert the tropes and clichés of the golden age and caricature the gender dynamics of classic science fiction.

In these pages, you’ll travel from suburban America to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. You’ll visit New Pluto City and Garrett’s World. You’ll encounter the terrors of the Brazilian jungle and the horrors of American suburbia. You’ll meet phantom lovers and alien she-devils, devious man-eaters, unseen underwater monsters and the tentacled menace of the fearsome Eee’chuk-chi’up. You’ll encounter dashing space heroes who don’t get the girl and bug-eyed monsters that do. And you’ll meet intergalactic heroines who know exactly what they want from a lover.